The Top 5 Ways to Protect Your Heart

With the President of the United States having proclaimed this month American Heart Month, it seems like a good time to focus on what we can do to keep ourselves and our older family members heart-healthy.

1. Watch for unusual symptoms.
Most men first realize they have heart problems when they experience pain or become short of breath. But for women, symptoms can be quite different, which is why heart disease is so often missed in women. A study of female heart attack survivors found that most remembered experiencing sleeplessness and unusual fatigue within the month before their heart attacks. And while it’s not considered a classic risk factor, stress is now known to play a role in the onset of heart disease.

2. Schedule a physical and discuss any symptoms with your doctor.
Make sure you tell the doctor if your family has any history of heart disease, high blood pressure, heart attack, or stroke. Women may need to be particularly proactive; some doctors were trained when heart disease wasn’t a woman’s issue, so they don’t know what to look for in women and may overlook your symptoms.

3. Get your cholesterol checked.
Normal for total cholesterol is under 200; if your cholesterol is above 200, it’s time to look at lifestyle changes and probably to take a cholesterol-lowering statin drug. Statins are considered so beneficial for most of the population that some doctors only half-jokingly suggest that we should put them in our water. Statins are available only by prescription, and can be expensive, but they’re lifesavers. Today most doctors screen for good (HDL) and bad (LDL) cholesterol levels as well. And many experts believe raising HDL through exercise and other lifestyle changes is as important — or more important — than lowering LDL.

4. Ask about additional blood tests.
Newer tests, such as Homocystene and C-Reactive Protein, hold great promise for identifying heart disease risk, but aren’t yet widely in use. However, if the results of your cholesterol screening are inconclusive or your family history suggests you’re at risk for Metabolic Syndrome, talk to the doctor about getting these tests.

5. If you’re experiencing symptoms, get checked.
An EKG (electrocardiogram), which evaluates heart rhythm, is a much simpler test than most people realize. It’s the first step in checking for arrhythmia, blocked arteries, and other issues. If an EKG is abnormal, the next step is a stress test with ultrasound. Stress tests are more expensive but also provide more information. If a stress test indicates a problem, the next step is probably cardiac catheterization, which is highly reliable but invasive. For this, the doctor places a tiny slit in the artery in your upper leg, inserts a catheter into the artery, and pumps in dye to watch the blood flow via a special screen. This is done under anesthesia but is usually an outpatient procedure.

The take-home message is that heart health is worth taking seriously. And we’re the ones who know our bodies best. So if something doesn’t feel right, either for you or a loved one, make the call, get those tests, and get started on the road to treatment. What better way to honor American Heart Month?

The Top 5 Ways to Protect Your Heart originally appeared on Caring.com.

Caring.com was created to help you care for your aging parents, grandparents, and other loved ones. As the leading destination for eldercare resources on the Internet, our mission is to give you the information and services you need to make better decisions, save time, and feel more supported. Caring.com provides the practical information, personal support, expert advice, and easy-to-use tools you need during this challenging time.

By Melanie Haiken, Caring.com

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

Ian D.

11:47AM PST on Mar 6, 2011

These are good ways to let you know if you have problems that will lead to a heart attack. However, this is a very misleading article suggesting that these things will protect your heart. A Raw Organic Diet, Exercise, and Meditation, is how you protect your heart once you have done the above to discover that you are at high risk.

send a green star

Bon L.

4:49AM PST on Jan 24, 2011

Thanks for the info.

Mervi R.

3:37PM PST on Feb 12, 2010

Very important and useful, thank you!

Bennie S.

12:06PM PST on Feb 12, 2010

Go to the doctor, get many tests-how do suggest that I and many thousands of women do this with no health insurance.
I try to take care of myself but when I do feel ill or wonder if I am having a symptom of something more serious here is what I have to do-hope (and pray) that it is not something more serious and go on with my life.
This is reality for millions without a way to go to the doctor. Yes, we maybe could afford a doctors visit, but not all the rest, so why go at all.
Wake up-most of us are more than aware of what we need to do-we just don't have any way of doing it.

Charley H.

10:17AM PST on Feb 12, 2010

great post

Paul M.

2:29PM PST on Feb 11, 2010

The Framingham study evidence underlying the “lipid hypothesis” was never strong to start with. Since then a massive lipid lowering campaign has shown no effect on heart disease rates. While an elegant and seemingly intuitive hypothesis, more and more openly people are rightly questioning the wisdom of the cholesterol lowering campaign.

Cholesterol is an essential component of every cell membrane and important for myriad physiologic functions. When Dr. Uffe Ravnskov, MD PhD looked at the medical literature he found something quite surprising had been documented there. On average people with higher cholesterol live longer. Cholesterol is a mediator in heart disease but blood cholesterol levels have next to no effect on heart disease rates again heart disease rates mostly unchanged since the advent of the massive cholesterol lowering campaign. Here is something else to consider, as any chemist will tell you, cholesterol is a single molecule. How then are there "good" and "bad" cholesterol molecules. It is at best scientifically imprecise and at worst a crass marketing ploy to talk about the levels of high and low denisty lipoprotein (say it again lipoprotein i.e. a protein - they are carrier proteins) as implying different cholesterol molecules. Then again the statin cholesterol lowering drug class alone is a 30 billion dollar a year industry.
Like the rest of your advice;)

http://healthjournalclub.blogspot.com/

gerlinde p.

10:36PM PST on Feb 10, 2010

a very good and informative article, thankyou

Steph Y.

9:26PM PST on Feb 10, 2010

Thanks so much for this article! It's important we know how our health's doing once in a while to prevent any heart attacks from coming our way! :)

Glow E.

5:45PM PST on Feb 10, 2010

Thanks!!!!

bridget k.

4:53PM PST on Feb 10, 2010

Whoa